Folsom Company Develops Technology To Track Down Handicap Placard Abusers
FOLSOM (CBS13) - It's the lowest of the low. People are scamming the system to get phony handicap parking placards just so they can park wherever they want. But now a Folsom company has created the first-of-its-kind technology to track the parking fraudsters.
Handicap parking has been a real help for people like Milisa Houston who has cerebral palsy.
"It limits my mobility, and so it's difficult sometimes in a long day to park farther away, especially in the winter," said Houston.
But there are people who abuse handicap placards. In California, having a placard means you can park for free at any metered spot.
"It is aggravating to know that people are getting away with this," said Houston.
New technology could make it easier to try and bust people who have placards when they don't really need them.
"We are working with multiple states in Medicare and unemployment insurance," said Greg Loos with Pondera Solutions in Folsom.
His company uses huge government databases to look for handicap parking fraud red flags.
"Maybe a particular medical professional is prescribing or renewing placards at a rate that far exceeds their peers," said Loos.
Other red flags could be a prescription from a doctor that came from a city on one end of the state, but the placard is used on the other side of the state -- nowhere near where the doctor issued it.
Loos says people who are constantly losing and asking for replacement placards could indicate they are giving them to friends or family.
Placard fraud is not only hurting people with real disabilities, it's hurting city coffers, says Loos.
"Because the people who shouldn't be using the placards aren't paying in those metered spots, and that becomes a revenue problem to those municipalities," he said.
Houston says she's all for any technology that can cut down on people gaming the system.
"I think people do it to save money, and I think they are unaware of their actions and consequence," she said.
As far as privacy goes, Loos says their data servers meet federal and state standards when it comes to keeping information safe.
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